Your thoughtful editorial encourages compromise by House GOP members who want to shut down the government to defund the Affordable Care Act, or who propose defaulting on the national debt by refusing to raise the debt ceiling if any of the borrowed money funds the healthcare law.

Alas, the House GOP's lunatic tea party members owe their jobs to primary voters who chose them over more moderate Republican candidates. These wing-nuts created the great lie that the Affordable Care Act is a danger and an insult to democracy. Those who compromise risk losing their seats to activists even more extreme.

If there's anything a member of Congress values more than democracy, it's his own financial security. I doubt many tea party House members could find jobs that pay as well as the ones they have.